


4 Times It Could Have Happened (and 1 Time it Couldn’t)

by MakeTheMoon



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, Future Rhett and Link, Gen, Pining, Young Rhett and Link, future Link
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 23:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12095637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakeTheMoon/pseuds/MakeTheMoon
Summary: They’re in Link’s truck, headlights off, radio on low, and windows down. It’s quiet, save for a few early birds that are up before dawn, waking while Rhett and Link should be going to sleep.Rhett inhales, like he’s about to start a sentence, but then stops himself. Link quirks an eyebrow in a silent egging-on, wanting to know - feeling a confession brewing. Link is always up for Rhett’s confessions.“Maybe I just haven't found the one yet. We're still young, right?” Rhett says, self-conscious in a way Link only ever sees when it’s just the two of them.





	4 Times It Could Have Happened (and 1 Time it Couldn’t)

**Author's Note:**

> This is sad. I'm sorry.
> 
> It's also my first fic, so I have no idea why I would choose to write such angst for my first time. I like to hurt myself?

Link is 12, and it's 3:00am on the dot when he wakes up with a jolt, confused, fuzzy image of a man who kind of looked like his dad, but definitely was not his dad, falling in through his window. Link remembers closing the window. He vaguely remembers that it's a school night, that tomorrow is Wednesday and his day starts with gym class and ends with a big math test and he’s pissed that he was woken up in the middle of the night - his test anxiety will never let him get back to sleep now.

He sits up, straining his eyes in the dark, hearing the man speaking but not fully understanding any of the words at first. Then Link hears a whisper, a chuckle underlining each word.

“Link, I’m - Link. Hi. This is weird.” _This doesn’t make sense,_ Link thinks. _No sense at all._ The man steps slightly closer, cautious, and Link can see his dark hair swooping over his right eye.

He feels a warm, large hand on his wrist, forcing him to look into blue eyes, the very same eyes he looked into in his bathroom every morning, just with more lines around them, a darker complexion under them. The man looks concerned and amused, like he felt how little this made sense as well. Like he knew this was still important.

“Listen - ” The grip on his wrist tightens a little, making Link look down - where the fingers were connected was bright and hot, a blue glow surrounding each finger. “You need to keep your eyes open, OK?” He mumbled something about keeping his heart open, and being ready for when it happens. _When what happens..._ something that Link can’t make out. Something with Rhett. Which does make sense since Rhett and Link are always together. If something were going to happen it was bound to happen with Rhett.

The voice comes back louder again, "you will be together. Just watch. Be patient". His shiver surprises him, his heart speeding up and his thoughts slowing down.

The man lets him go with a short nod, pats his jean pockets, and walks back towards the window. Before he reaches it, he’s gone.

Link feels exhausted. He’s just happy that he’s falling back to sleep already, knowing that he’ll do better on his test the more rested he is. As he drifts back to sleep he thinks of how it’s going to be so weird to see Rhett in the morning.

 

Link never tells Rhett about his dream.

 

...........................................................

 

Once, when they're teenagers talking about girls - kissing them, touching them, laughing with them; getting bored of them and moving on - he realizes that neither of them, in their 15 years, had ever fallen in love with a girl.

They’re in Link’s truck, headlights off, radio on low, and windows down. It’s quiet, save for a few early birds that are up before dawn, waking while Rhett and Link should be going to sleep.

Rhett inhales, like he’s about to start a sentence, but then stops himself. Link quirks an eyebrow in a silent egging-on, wanting to know - feeling a confession brewing. Link is always up for Rhett’s confessions.

“Maybe I just haven't found the one yet. We're still young, right?” Rhett says, self-conscious in a way Link only ever sees when it’s just the two of them.

“Maybe we aren't looking in the right place, in the right direction.”

Rhett huffs a laugh, “maybe we need to move away from this small town to find the one.”

Link nods, sighs as quietly as he can, thinking that that's not at all what he meant.

 

...........................................................

 

Two nights after Rhett's wedding, all four of them are sitting on the McLaughlin's couch, half-asleep after the longest, fullest week of either of their lives. Rhett kicks Link's foot, inquiring - they get up and go to the kitchen, sitting at the table, sipping not-at-all-enthusiastically on their warming beers.

Rhett looks sad, but Link can't tell if it's just exhaustion or actual sadness - Link hopes for one over the other, prickling with guilt as soon as the thought strikes him. There's no reason for Rhett to be sad right now, he should be at his happiest.

Link clears his throat before speaking, “what's up, brother? Anything I can do?”

Rhett shrugs. “I’m sure there's lots you can do; nothing I can put my finger on though.” Link's heart speeds up. “Did you feel an emptiness after you got married? Like- like something had been taken from you, rather than given to you?”

“Kind of, maybe? I’m not sure. What do you mean?” Link’s mostly curious now, confused about where that question even came from.

Rhett blinks, shaking his head, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. Link's sure his shoulders deflate, but maybe it's just a trick of the light. Rhett kicks Link’s foot again, then announces, unnecessarily, how tired he is; it's obvious everyone in the house is tired, but Link follows him to the living room, waking the girls, all of them heading to bed.

 

The sunlight in the morning is enough to make Link think he might have dreamt the whole conversation. He rolls over into Christy’s back, and for a moment he feels guilty that he never told her about his dream - or meeting, or vision, or whatever it was. He never told anyone. He knows they would tell him it was just a dream, even though some days he could still feel his own large hand on his wrist.

 

...........................................................

 

Three years after Lando is born, after the cake and candles are put away and the sun is gone, long after Lando fell asleep, Link feels Rhett walk up beside him on the deck, handing him a glass of water. They get to talking about whether either of them should have more kids, or if 5 - well, 3 and 2 - is plenty.

Rhett says “you know-” and takes another breath before continuing, “I would have loved to have a daughter.” Link’s eyebrow quirks up and he tilts his head slightly towards Rhett when Rhett rushes ahead, “I’m still so happy with my family. That's not how I - that’s not a reflection of how I feel about the boys, it just. It might have been nice, ya know? To have another girl around here.”

“You’ll always have Lily,” Link offers, feels like he’s providing Rhett with something new if that’s what he wants. He’d offer Rhett anything he wanted, he thinks. “You’ll always have me, too,” he adds quietly.

Rhett leans a shoulder against him and turns his head, their noses and cheeks inches apart; Rhett chews on his bottom lip with a small, sad, lopsided smile, blinks and nods. A cold breeze whips through the trees in the backyard, startling them and their silence, and they slowly shift back to a regular distance, a friendly distance.

 

............................................................

 

Rhett takes four long steps away from baggage claim to close the distance between them, grabbing Link in a bear hug, pushing the air out of his lungs. Rhett's beard, so much longer and greyer than Link remembers, tickles his neck while they both laugh their ‘hello’s into each others ears and hair and necks. Link keeps one hand on Rhett's shoulder as they pull away, both their eyes gleaming, Link telling himself it’s from all the Christmas lights and nothing else. Both their smiles are wide, realizing just how long it's been since they've seen each other but falling right back into old habits, feeling as young as ever.

Link talks about Lily's little boy, Lando's college graduation; Rhett shares Locke’s travel stories, talks about Shepherd switching majors again. It's easy, even though it's been months. Link takes note of Rhett’s accent, more Californian than ever, feeling more aware of his own thickening southern drawl than he has in a long time - years, maybe.

Phone calls aren’t enough, Link realizes, and in that moment makes the decision he had been debating for weeks with his family - he wants to retire wherever Rhett is. He also realizes, startling himself a little with the epiphany, that he doesn't want to retire at all; he wants to create something new, start a new project - with Rhett, always with Rhett.

He says as much later, into the darkness of the den in the basement, Rhett laying with his head near Link's thigh on the couch, Link's feet on the coffee table.

Rhett smiles, bright as ever, and jabs Link in the ribs.

“Ya’ gotta move back to California for that, buddyroll.” The southern accent comes out at the end, on that term of endearment, and Link’s stomach flips.

He swallows. “Okay.” And that’s that.

 

...............................................................

 

Fifth time’s a charm, Link thinks to himself, trying and failing again to walk into the room. He knows what's in there. Christy knows what's in there. Lily has her arm locked around his, sniffling close to his shoulder, the smell of too many flowers smothering him. His cane is leaning against his leg, unused while adrenaline courses through him, allowing him to stand a little taller. 

Christy comes back from the kitchen, where she had grasped Jessie and the boys - men; not letting them go until she sees that Link and Lily are still standing at the door. She touches his other arm, then his back, a slight push in the right - or wrong - direction. Link takes a step, immediately seeing the long, dark wooden casket, one end open, large spray of flowers across the top.

His heart stops, he's sure, because there's nothing left. No air in the room, no sunlight in the sky. Christy sobs, once, just behind him, and Link pushes forward. He's thrown sympathetic glances from people he doesn't fully recognise, people he doesn’t even really notice.

He had cursed his 12 year old self, 70 years behind him now, for ever believing - believing that he had gone back to himself from the future to deliver a message that would change his life. It was always stupid, he knew that, he really did. Now it didn't matter, he thinks. None of it mattered, not in particular, and Link’s chest was tighter and tighter as the seconds rolled on.

It didn’t matter now, but it was all special, unique to the two of them. Every touch, every unspoken word, every spoken word; every sigh and adventure and jab in the ribs and confession. He and Rhett were always together, their whole lives, in one way or another. Rhett was always there; right behind him, or two steps forward, or directly in line with him, always in a different configuration but always within arms reach.

Rhett wasn't with him anymore, not really, but Link thinks that maybe the dream wasn't so bad after all; it had made him pay attention. To everything. To appreciate the moments when they were closest, when they almost had it, almost grasped for it - for each other. Maybe Link never got to have Rhett in the one way that he wanted, but he had him in every other way and Rhett had always loved Link, he knew, and Link had always loved him back. Still, he let’s himself wish one more time, the last of countless similar wishes, that he had told Rhett about his visitor that morning in gym class; let’s himself imagine it once more. Realizes, far too late, that Rhett would have believed him.

 

..............................................................

 

Six months later, Link lets go as well. Christy jokes that he died of a broken heart, never able to spend more than a few months without Rhett. Jessie knows she says it just to keep herself from crying in public, but she agrees - it's true, whether or not the doctor has her explanation, they both know it's true.

They both stay in California, realizing that all their friends and family that were left live there, except a couple of the kids who always come back for Christmas and help them fly to Florida and New York in the summers, always the two of them together, staying first with Lincoln, then with Shepherd.

They often talk of the family they had made, together, all four of them. Starting with Rhett and Link in first grade, to meeting the girls, having their kids, always in sync, never far behind each other. They had spent their lives as a family of 9, and Christy and Jessie - and the kids, and the kids' kids - weren't going to end that now. Not after all those years and all that history. Rhett and Link wouldn't have wanted that. Rhett and Link would have stayed together. As they always did. As Link had promised himself all those years ago.


End file.
